Research and Evaluation Plan - firstthingsfirst.org

1 Executive Summary Research and Evaluation plan 2013-2017 Evaluation plan 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter One: Introduction .. 2 Chapter Two: Establishing Infrastructure to Support FTF Research and Evaluation .. 5 Research and Evaluation Goal 1: Program 5 Research and Evaluation Goal 2: Comprehensive, Longitudinal, Integrated 9 Research and Evaluation Goal 3: Data Dashboards Continuous Quality Improvement .. 12 Research and Evaluation Goal 4: Meaningful Approach to Data Analysis .. 18 Research and Evaluation Goal 5: Tribal Governments .. 21 Research and Evaluation Goal 6: Kindergarten Developmental Inventory .. 25 Research and Evaluation Goal 7: Evaluation Oversight and Review .. 26 Research and Evaluation Goal 8: Tri-University Consortium Data .. 27 Chapter Three: Evaluating Key FTF Programmatic Strategies .. 29 Section A: Access, Affordability, and Quality in Early Learning.

2 29 Section B: Family Support .. 34 Section C: Child Health .. 37 Section D: Additional Data Collection, Studies, and Reports .. 40 Chapter Four: Conclusion and Defining Success .. 43 Appendix A: Budget .. 44 Appendix B: List of Acronyms .. 46 Evaluation plan 1 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION First Things First (FTF) was established to provide greater opportunities for all children five and under in Arizona to grow up ready to succeed. Established in November 2006 with the passage of Proposition 203, FTF was a citizens initiative to fund quality early childhood development and health programs throughout the state. Vision: All Arizona's children are ready to succeed in school and in life. Mission: FTF is one of the critical partners in creating a family-centered, comprehensive, collaborative and high-quality early childhood system that supports the development, health, and early education of all Arizona's children birth through age five.

3 To fulfill the mission, FTF and critical partners in early childhood have set out the following system outcomes: All children have access to high quality, culturally responsive early care and education that promotes their optimal development. All children have access to high quality, preventive and continuous health care, including physical, mental, oral and nutritional health. All families have the information, services, and support they need to help their children achieve their fullest potential. All early childhood education and health professionals are well prepared, highly skilled, and compensated commensurate with their education and experience. The early childhood system is high quality, child and family centered, coordinated, integrated, and comprehensive. All Arizonans understand the importance of the early years and the impact of early childhood development, health, and education on Arizona s economy and quality of life and, as a result, substantially support early childhood development and education both politically and financially.

4 Table 1 presents the FTF Model of Change, an overarching logic model. This model depicts how the system outcomes above are expected to result from FTF activities and achieve children s success. Among all the FTF activities shown in the first column of Table 1, harnessing data is a key means of developing leadership capacity and infrastructure to create and sustain the high-quality service system. This Research and Evaluation plan presents activities and projects that: 1) support regional and statewide strategic planning through data-driven decision making ; 2) strengthen the continuous improvement of programmatic efforts by providing rigorous and ongoing Evaluation ; and 3) build capacity to mobilize high-quality findings to obtain maximum positive impact for children, families, and communities. Evaluation plan 2 If We: We Create: Resulting In: Achieving : Develop and fund high quality services for children and families that are necessary but not yet available Coordinated, high-quality service system for young children Early Learning All Arizona s children are ready to succeed in school and in life.

5 All children have access to high quality, culturally responsive early care & education. Strengthen already existing high quality services for children Family Support/Literacy All families have the information, services & supports they need to help children achieve their fullest potential. Partner to build a system of early childhood services and information for families Early Childhood Professional Development All child care/education & health professionals are well prepared, highly skilled and compensated commensurate with their education & experience. Health All children have access to high quality preventive & continuous health care to promote physical, mental, oral and nutritional health. Lead through the synergy of statewide and local strategic planning Leadership capacity and infrastructure to create and sustain the high-quality service system Early Childhood System The early childhood system is high quality, child & family centered, coordinated, integrated & comprehensive.

6 Harness data and technology to build infrastructure and support data-based decision making and accountability Shift the brand and awareness of early childhood in Arizona Public Awareness All Arizonans understand the importance of the early years & recognize the influence of early childhood development, health & education on Arizona s economy & quality of life and, as a result, substantially support early childhood development, health, and education both politically and financially. Table 1. FTF Model of Change Evaluation plan 3 Evaluation and Research have been a critical component of FTF since its inception. FTF strives for complete transparency and holds itself, and its collaborations with partners, accountable for achieving intended outcomes for children. Additionally, high-quality information for decision-making increases the effectiveness of planning and improves the implementation and potential impact of programs.

7 This plan sets out the Research and Evaluation direction for the next five years, FY13 through FY17. This plan is a result of the FTF Board s request for a re-examination of FTF s Research and Evaluation approach. The first step in that re-examination was the creation of the FTF Early Childhood Research and Evaluation National Advisory Panel (Panel) in January 2012. The Panel was convened to provide recommendations to the FTF Board on developing a comprehensive statewide and regional Research and Evaluation framework. The Panel was composed of 12 nationally recognized experts in early childhood Research , Evaluation , and programs who met three times in the winter and spring of 2012. Panel members expertise included Evaluation design and methodology; Native American early education; placed-based, systems-level Evaluation ; school readiness, including literacy and language development, cognitive development, and executive functioning; state prekindergarten Evaluation ; special needs and early intervention; health; and a unique Arizona, state-specific, perspective.

8 Panel member biographies can be found in the full report of the Early Childhood Research and Evaluation National Advisory Panel at In addition to setting out a vision and approach for Evaluation founded in the Panel recommendations, FTFs Research and Evaluation plan contains a budget for proposed Evaluation activities. All requested resources build on current infrastructure and staffing to accommodate increased work in five main areas: 1. Data coordination and consultation with tribal communities; 2. Development of the comprehensive, longitudinal, integrated database; 3. Enhanced support for dissemination, understanding, and utilization of the increased volume of data and analysis findings; 4. Kindergarten assessment; and 5. Evaluation studies of strategic focus areas. New Evaluation activities in this plan will increase the amount, quality, and utility of information and will be integrated with key system measurement, such as the 10 School Readiness Indicators, and products such as Regional and Statewide Needs and Assets Assessments.

9 FTF is committed to maintaining a maximum of $9 million per fiscal year or approximately 7% of total expenditures for allocation to statewide Research and Evaluation efforts. Budget estimates take into consideration all known factors at this time, though modest changes, in particular for the data system build, are expected to vary. It is recommended that FTF not spend in any given year more than 10% of its total allotted budget on Evaluation efforts. This plan has two major chapters and a conclusion: Chapter Two - Establishing Infrastructure to Support FTF Research and Evaluation - Chapter Three - Evaluating Key FTF Programmatic Strategies and Evaluation plan 4 Chapter Four Conclusion and Defining Success. Chapter Two presents, based on the Panel s recommendations, a long-term approach to building the infrastructure that will support ongoing Evaluation activities. Chapter Three presents a series of studies to gather and provide meaningful data in key strategic areas.

10 Chapter Four defines success for the plan . The Evaluation Budget is presented in Appendix A. Evaluation plan 5 CHAPTER TWO: ESTABLISHING INFRASTRUCTURE TO SUPPORT FTF Research AND Evaluation FTF is based on the principles that children learn and develop in a complex context of family, school, and community, and that child development is supported by quality early education, strong families, healthy adults, and robust communities. In line with these principles, FTF funds and supports strategies as diverse as strengthening medical homes, supporting parents to understand the importance of oral health, increasing and improving developmental and sensory screening activities, promoting children s cognitive and language development by supporting parents as children s first teachers, and improving the quality of early education programming. For optimal impact, efforts must be of the highest quality and coordinated.